


The Moult

by Pixel_Runner



Series: Building Empire [8]
Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alien Biology, Anatomically Correct Names, Any of it, Assassination, Bartering, Cannibalism, Comments Make The Writing Go, Crew as Family, Don't Waste the Protein, Established Relationship, F/M, Interspecies Awkwardness, Is it still Cannibalism if you don't eat the whole person?, Low Amount of Yondu and Kraglin, Multi, Not Beta Read, Oral Sex, Pack Family, Puppy Piles, Puppy Play, Revenge, Scent Marking, Second Trimester Pregnancy, Sort of? - Freeform, Stick A Fork In It Because It's Done, Support Crew Fic, Threesome - F/M/M, almost no smut, manners
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-25
Updated: 2017-08-06
Packaged: 2018-12-06 21:33:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 18,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11609382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pixel_Runner/pseuds/Pixel_Runner
Summary: Mature due to implied cannibalism and anatomically correct names.Amelia still owes Brahl and Knix a couple of Favours





	1. The Favour

**Author's Note:**

> If you submitted a name for this story and aren't happy with the ideas below, let me know in the prompt work and I will change it.

In the beginning, Brahl wasn’t too sure about Knix.  He had joined up shortly before their last run on Terra.  He hadn’t made a play for pack alpha.  He was a little bigger than Brahl but his posture and demeanour and eye line height were all properly respectful.

 

However, Brahl was sure that Knix was smarter than he was.  This pissed him off.  

 

Tullk had interceded.  It was always good to listen to Tullk.

 

“Don’t think of it as an Alpha challenge.  Think of it as using all of the skills of your pack wisely.”

 

“The softies will think he is the leader and I am just the muscle.”

 

“So?  Why should you care what a bunch of idiot softies think?  Clearly they are wrong.”

 

When the softies started fighting after Tazerface’s death, Brahl had been willing to join them.  He had no love for Udonta.  

 

Knix had suggested that there was no clear alpha to take Udonta’s place.  And that there were already forty or so females on the ship, it was ridiculous that the stupid softies were fighting just because they finally noticed one of them.  Plus the Doc understood trading in favours.  It would be advantageous to them to have a medic on the ship.  Especially one that actually cared about the pain levels of it’s patients.

 

This discussion meant that when they found her wandering the ship, the whole pack had previously considered and understood the advantages to her being there.  Moult was coming.  It would be easier with small agile fingers to dig the skin out of difficult places rather than having to claw them out yourself or waiting for them to fall off.

 

When Tullk found out what they had negotiated, he was angry.  The smell of his rage boiled off of him in waves.  He kept his posture neutral and did not show Udonta his reaction.  Or perhaps it was the woman he was protecting.  The man could not hide the smell of his lust, even if his words and body language indicated he was prepared to ignore it.  But the deal had been struck and he would not demand they break it.

 

Moult was getting close now.  Tullk cornered Brahl about it that morning.

 

“How are you going to keep her safe while she is peeling the skin off of you and hand feeding it to your bothers?” Tullk wanted to know.

 

“In the Med Bay, she is dominant.  It won’t be a problem.” Brahl said.

 

“What if she feeds you in the wrong order?”

 

“We will explain so that she doesn’t.” Knix replied.

 

“Did you tell her that you were planning on eating the skin she helps remove?”

 

They all looked blankly at him.  Finally it was up to Brahl to say. “No… what else would we do with it?”

 

“Well, Terrans throw out the body parts they remove.”

 

The Achernonians were shocked.  “They would waste the protein?  That is ridiculous!”

 

“Yes and they do not eat their dead.  In their species, it cuts down on the spread of disease.”

 

Brahl looked slightly sick, “Their meat is diseased?”

 

“It can be.  Why do you think I have been telling you not to eat Quill all these years?”

 

Brahl was smart enough to not to say, “Because Udonta is your Alpha and Quill is his pup.”  If you were smart, you never discussed Tullk’s relationship with Yondu.  If you were stupid, you only discussed it once.

 

Tullk continued.  “You will need to explain it to her.  You will have to be patient if she is repulsed.  You will also have to explain feeding order. And you will have to negotiate if you want to eat from her hands or if you want her to pass the skin to Brahl and have you distribute it to the others.”

 

That last one caused some discussion.  The Doc was alpha in the med bay.  It felt like she should be hand feeding them.  Of course she should!  Who would have ever considered anything different?  But…  They had just taken that for granted.  They hadn't actually negotiated for that.

 

Brahl took Knix with him to the Med bay, but he did the talking.

 

“Tullk thinks you do not understand that you will need to feed us our skin.” he said.

 

Amelia looked up from the book she was reading.  She stared at them with no comprehension on her face.  This did not bode well.

 

Brahl tried again.  “Moult is coming.  We took you safely from the barracks.  You agreed to help us during moult.  You will need to feed us our skin.”

 

Amelia set down her book and spun her chair to look at him.  Brahl sat on the floor so she would not be looking up at him.  Knix quickly followed suit.  It would not do to disrespect the medic, in her own space, while negotiating favours.

 

“I remember agreeing to help with moult.  I do not understand what you mean when you say, ‘feed you your skin.’  What does that mean?”

 

They both groaned.  Stupid softies not understanding common manners.

 

Brahl said, “When you peel off the too small skin, it will come off in strips, you must then feed it to us.”

 

Amelia stared at him.  She smelled uncertain.  “My species doesn’t moult.  I will need you to be specific.”

 

Brahl looked at Knix.  This was such a simple concept, any child would understand what he was saying.  How could she not understand?

 

Knix took over. “After each strip peels off, you will hold out your hand to one of us and that Achernonian will eat the skin out of your hand.  You will have to offer the strips to us in order of rank.  The biggest strips go to Brahl, the smaller ones will be divided me, then Marlyx, then Vexca, then Jillam, and lastly to Snu.  We will take them carefully from you and you must not be afraid that we will bite you.  The smell of your fear will be … upsetting.”

 

Amelia hid her disgust from her face, but could not hide it from her smell.  “As in, you will put your mouth in my hand and eat the dried up skin out of my hand?”

 

They both nodded.

 

Amelia swallowed. “You did not explain that when you were negotiating.  Can’t I just hand it to you to eat?”

 

They looked at each other.

 

“This is important.” Knix explained.  “You owe me a favour for giving you drug to help Zvi.  I will call in that favour for this.”

 

Amelia leaned back in her chair, putting physical distance between them and herself.  That was not a good sign.

 

“I should have brought Tullk.” Knix said, “He would be better at explaining.”

 

“Your teeth are…. kind of scary.” It was the best she could do to explain.  They would have know idea who Pennywise was, or why those teeth were quite so upsetting.

 

They looked at each other.  Knix understood first.  “It is because you are a prey species and we have carnivores’ teeth.”

 

“I give you my word, none of the pack will bite you.” Brahl said firmly.

 

Amelia relaxed a little, but not all the way.  “Terran’s sometimes have small obligate carnivores living in our houses.  Their tongues are scratchy and rough so they can more easily strip the flesh from the bones of their prey.  It isn’t just the biting I am worried about.”

 

“We do not have papillae.” Knix offered. “If we did, the moult would be easier.”

 

Amelia hesitated.  “This was not part of the deal.”

 

“We did not understand that it wouldn’t be.” Knix said.

 

“I did not understand that it would be expected.”

 

“Do this and we will be even.  You will owe us nothing.” Brahl said.

 

“This is not a fair deal.  You are trading a few minutes of activity on your part for hours of work on mine.  I did not touch you at all, but you are now demanding contact from me.”

 

Now it was their turn to lean back.  The idea of unfair exchanges of physical contact was something they understood.

 

“Speak with Tullk.” Brahl suggested.  “If we need to negotiate additional payment for this, we will.”

 

It was the wrong thing to say.  He had just offended her, but he did not understand how and her face was not helping him figure it out.

 

“I will.  I will find you when I have thought about this.”

 

They understood a dismissal when they heard one.

 

 


	2. Details, Details

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> not totally graphic descriptions of how moulting may work in a humanoid species

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not for everyone

After Brahl and Knix left, Amelia did what any self respecting health care professional would do. She researched Achernonian moulting habits.   OK.  They lived in packs, sure.  Generally five to ten males in groups of unmated males or one dominate male with a harem of females and a collection of lesser males. That doesn’t sound fair, but it does sound believable. 

 

Oh look, there’s a video.

 

OK.  One naked Achernonian on his hands and knees with a smaller, naked female peeling the skin off his back.  It was a very thin layer, like he had on one of those facial masks.  She would sometime eat the strips, but mostly feed them to the other naked males in the room.

 

Huh.  Brahl had forgotten to mention the nudity.

 

The males would lick her hands as they took the strips of skin.  Then she whimpered and dropped to her knees and nuzzled the prone male.  The largest male came up behind her and mounted her.

 

Amelia gasped and blushed, but by the time she had collected herself enough to turn it off, the male was off of the female.  The female then rolled over and showed her belly like a dog showing submission.  The other males fell on her and jostled each other for positions to lick her like a pack of puppies.  This quickly morphed into a pack of puppies fighting for position to preform cunnilingus.

 

Definitely hadn’t mentioned that part.

 

Oh… kay.

 

Eventually, the female got up and went back to peeling excess skin off the moulting male as though nothing had happened.

 

What exactly had she agreed to?

 

She needed advice on this.

 

Umm… maybe she needed a few minutes alone with Yondu first.

 

——

 

“Um… ‘Melia?  Why did you call us off the bridge to watch Achernonian porn in the middle off the afternoon?  I mean…  I’m sure we could recreated something like that… it was kinda hot… well, some of it … aside from the skin peeling bit but…”

 

Amelia rolled her eyes for a moment.  “A while back, I agreed to help with the Achernonians moult.  My understanding was that I would just be peeling excess skin from hard to reach places.  They didn’t say anything about nudity or sex or even eating the skin.  Then today, I found out they expect me to hand feed them the excess skin.  They still haven’t mentioned nudity or sex, but they were surprised I did know about the feeding, so maybe they are assuming I know about the other stuff too.  So… I want to know, how did they handle that last moult?”

 

Yondu frowned.  Then he paged Tullk.

 

——

 

Tullk watched the first thirty seconds of the video, then turned it off.  “You aren’t Achernonian.” 

 

He searched and found another one.  Five naked Achernonian males and a Xandarian in uniform.  The males where holding there bodies in a position Amelia generally associated with gorillas.The Xandarian pulled off the skin.  The Achernonians ate it out of his hands.  They howled like wolves.  They sometimes licked his hands and sometimes each other.  Sometimes they licked each other a lot.  

 

“Moult tends to occur with rut.  They don’t waste the protein, if there isn’t a female around.  If there was a female in season, Brahl would mate with her and she would get to eat most of all of their skin as a good nutritional start for his litter.  No matter what you think of what they are doing, you won’t give off the right pheromones.   Maybe anatomically compatible but not biologically compatible.  You don’t have to worry about that.  The tricky bit will be not smelling like prey.”

 

“What does that mean?” Kraglin asked.

 

“It means they can smell fear.” Yondu answered.  “You found them in the dark, all six of them.  How did you not smell like fear?”

 

“Oh, I’m pretty sure I did.  They just ignored it.”

 

Tullk rolled his eyes.  “If I may be blunt.  It didn’t matter that we all knew you weren’t fucking Yondu.  He claimed you and they weren’t prepared to fight him for you.  Plus, they need this.  You need to understand because they need this.  Male Achernonians end up covered in scars.  Some are from battle, fighting for mates or resources or whatever.  Many are self inflicted trying to tear too tight skin from their bodies and accidentally damaging the more delicate tissue underneath.”

 

“So... last time, you helped, right?”  Amelia asked.

 

Tullk shook his head.  “I don’t have the right personality.  Brahl would see it as an Alpha challenge.  I would have to kill him, then after I did, I wouldn’t be able to lead.  I was designed to be a soldier, not a general.”

 

Yondu stared at Amelia, “She ain’t no Alpha.  Brahl sees this as a challenge, I’ll have to kill him.”

 

Kraglin coughed.  “Maybe not, Capt’n.  You still aint never seen the woman run an emergency.  Brahl has.  In here, she bosses everyone.”

 

Amelia blushed and looks at the ceiling.  “I would prefer the phrase… directs.  I don’t “boss.”

 

“You speak with confidence and issue commands with the absolute certainty that they will be followed.  In here, you are dominant.”  Tullk said firmly.  Then he shrugged, “And it doesn’t hurt that Yondu would be your enforcer if you need him to be.”

 

“There are six of them.  This is going to take the better part of a week.  Yondu is busy.”

 

“He doesn’t have to be here.  Just the threat of him has to be here.  The boys are all about the smells.”  Tullk was suddenly avoiding eye contact.  “I’m sure he can find ways to make you smell like him that week.”

 

Amelia blushed.

 

“I ain’t leaving her alone in here with them.” Yondu said.

 

“That is something you can delegate.”

 

“Oh?  You volunteering?” Amelia asked.

 

Tullk shrugged.  “Well, I was more thinking Kraglin as first mate.  This is going to take a while.  You could set up a rota.”

 

“But you won’t die if something goes wrong, and you don’t need sleep and they respect you,” she pointed out.

 

“Yes.  And I would not intrude on Yondu’s claim on you.”

 

She looked away at that.  The *technically* property part still stung.  It had been a while since it came up, but…. it still bothered her.  Still, Amelia was drawing wages.  She spent hardly any of it.  She was hoping to buy herself from Yondu in a couple more months.  That would take some talking.  He had explained that while she was a slave she couldn’t be held accountable for her owner’s actions.  Yondu was always careful to keep the business end of being a Ravager from her, but she knew they did somethings of which the authorities didn’t approve.

 

Tullk cleared his throat.  “It would be helpful if there was someone…. on hand, as it were, to ….  um…  help, if you become aroused.”

 

All three of them looked at him.

 

Tullk coughed.  “They’ll be able to tell.  Brahl will consider it rude not to at least offer to help.  You will have to be prepared for that.  If it gets too bad, they will consider it rude that you keep turning him down when your own mates aren’t willing to help you.”

 

Amelia blushed.  Yondu and Kraglin stared at Tullk like he had gone insane.  Yondu turned to Amelia but as soon as he saw her face…

 

“Get out.”

 

Tullk fled.

 

Yondu locked the doors.  “It weren’t the flaying people part.  So… doggy style or-“

 

“I just like oral, ok?”

 

Kraglin choked.

 

Yondu grinned.  “Gonna lay on you back and let me and Krags lick you all over?”

 

Amelia closed her eyes.  “I used to like giving blow jobs once in a while too.”

 

Yondu slapped Kraglin on the back hard enough that the man staggered.  “I’m tapped out.  Looks like yur up boy!”

 

Kraglin looked uncomfortable. “Still kinda icked out by the skin eating thing, sir.”

 

Amelia shrugged.   “I’m embarrassed that the whole lot of them are tracking me like that.”

 

Yondu watched her for a moment, “If they can tell with you, they can tell with all of us. You ain't so special that you do anything that different from anyone else.  We all eat and shit and fuck and all the smells that go with that.”

 

Amelia looked at Yondu and tried to access the Yondu interpretation part of her brain.  "Are you telling me to just not worry about it?”

 

“That’s what I said.”

 

——

 

After Yondu and a slightly sick looking Kraglin left, Amelia researched “Achernonian Moult Injuries.”

 

Ugh.

 

Oh god!

 

How would they even…?

 

No!  There was no way she was letting that happen to her patients.  OK.  Evolutionary advantage of shedding skin: 

\- any little skin parasites you pick up along the way die and fall off the surface layer of skin loses blood supply.

\- minor scarring is removed because with the old skin

\- all the males and non-pregnant females provided added protein to the pregnant females assisting with prenatal nutrition

\- increased psychological ties in the pack being vulnerable with each other

\- same thing for the … licking

 

Hmm….  there was something about scent marking in here too….  

 

OK.  Rationally, it would be easier to see where someone’s skin was coming loose if they weren’t wearing clothing.  She had just never considered the details.  She also hadn’t thought it would be all of them.  One at a time was her assumption.  But, it also made sense to not leave pack members alone when they were more vulnerable.

 

Amelia wondered if moulting Achernonians were going to musk like weasels.  It kind of sounded like it.  She would need to see if she could track down some massage oil when they stopped in Knowhere tomorrow to resupply and recruit.  Which meant talking to Brahl or Knix or one of the others who’s common wasn’t that good about which smells they could handle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments please!


	3. Negotiations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I have something you want. And so do you. Maybe we can work something out.

“How do you think this is going to work if you have to get through a moult when you are afraid of the Doc?”

 

Knix bristled at that. “I'm not afraid of her, Tullk.  She is afraid of us. And she doesn't understand what we tell her.  I just want you along to translate.”

 

Amelia was just helping Quinlan, the electrosmith, when then got there. She nodded at them but kept talking about Quinlan’s back injury.  

 

Knix thought that was stupid.  The woman was clearly pregnant.  Couldn't the doc tell?  Knix would offer to help, but Tullk was adamant that they never, ever comment on a softie’s smell.  Actually, now that he thought about it, Quinlan was nicely pregnant.  He closed his eyes and took a moment to enjoy the smells of gonadotropins.  They were strong!  Poor thing was probably in the vomiting stage.   

 

She smelled good.  Really, really good.

 

Tullk elbowed him in the ribs. “Think about something else.  You are embarrassing me.”

 

When Quinlan left, the only thing stopping Knix from tracking her out with his nose was a fear of Tullk.  Sadly, that kept him from doing a lot of things.

 

The Doc indicated they should sit at the consult table.  As he parked his ass, Knix said, “How exactly are you planning on treating her ‘back injury’?  You aren’t giving her drugs are you?”

 

“I don’t discuss my patients or their issues.  HE can trust that and so can you.”

 

It was her slight stress on the gender pronoun that made Knix realize his slip.  He ducked his head respectfully.  Maybe the doc wasn’t stupid after all.

 

Tullk, however wasn’t going to let it go.  “Hypothetically, would you treat a back injury with drugs?”

 

Amelia sighed.  “Maybe.  I may also try restricted duty to keep the patent from, say, lifting more than 12 kilos.  If that still didn't work, I may sequester the person to work in the med bay on light duty… say filing, until they either recovered or left the ship on Xandar.”

 

Both Tullk and Knix relaxed.

 

“Can we move on, now?  Please?  I want to see Knix’s hands.”

 

“Why?”  he asked.

 

“Because your joints are completely different than mine.  Terrans have ellipsoid wrist joints.  Achernonians have ball and socket joints.  Plus my fingernails don’t retract, and I want to see how that works.”

 

“Really?”  Knix was shocked.  “How do you not scratch yourself if your claws can’t move out of the way?  That sounds terribly inefficient.”

 

“We manage.  At any rate, would you please put your hand on the table?  Palm up to start with.” Knix did.  “Is it ok if I touch you?” Amelia asked.

 

Knix narrowed his eyes, “How do you expect to help with moult if you can not touch me?”

 

“You are not currently in moult and I would not presume.”

 

“Huh.  Ok, so you aren’t a total idiot.  Fine.  You can touch my hand.”  Knix looked at Tullk, who was having some difficulty not laughing.  He wasn’t sure if that not laughing was directed at him or at the Doc.

 

Amelia put her hand on Knix’s.  His palm was almost as big as her whole hand with her fingers spread.  His fingers were only as long as hers, though.  They were thick and blunt.  Still three knuckles on each finger and two on the thumb.  The ended in a retractible nail or claw with a central blood supply like a cat or dog.  “Turn your hand over so it’s palm down, please.”

 

Knix did.   “What are you looking for?”

 

“Your hand anatomy is quite different than mine.  I want to see what areas will stress crack the old skin first.  Could you press on the table a little?”  When Knix did, his fingers curled slightly like claws.  Speaking of which,  “Can I see your claws, please?”

 

Knix turned his hand back over and extended his claws a little.  "I usually keep them a bit shorter, but ...  I’m going to need them soon enough.”

 

“Is that for the moult or do you have something else planned?”

 

“We only negotiated hands, feet, faces and backs. I will have to get the rest.”

 

Amelia leaned back in her chair and gave him a hard look.  Knix took his hand off the table, dropped his gaze and waited politely.

 

“I spent all day researching this.  So let’s start this the basics.  I am not looking for a mate. I am perfectly happy with the ones I have.  Do you understand?”

 

“Yes, I understand.” Knix said as he glanced at Tullk, who’s face showed nothing, but who smelled slightly aroused and rather disappointed at that. 

 

“Your—  excuse me, I have misspoke. BRAHL’s pack falls under my responsibility as medic.  If you slice open your new skin trying to remove the old, I will have to do the wound care.”  Amelia paused here and frowned. “I believe it could be mutually advantageous for you, collectively, to blunt your claws so that I can handle the whole moult.”

 

“We have not negotiated for that.”

 

“I am suggesting we should negotiate for that.  Ask Brahl what it would be worth to him for me to get you all through the moult with minimal sewing required.”

 

“How would you define ‘minimal’?”

 

“I will try for none, but from what I read, the some of the cuts come from someone scratching in his sleep.  If you will not blunt your claws, or do not blunt them adequately, there is little or nothing I can do about that.”

 

“That is a very big favour.” Knix said.  “All six of us would require most of your attention for close to ten days.”

 

“I have a very big ask, but I would discuss that with Brahl, without a witness present.”

 

Knix snorted, “What?  You looking to have someone killed or something?”  He joked.  Then her smell changed.  He looked at her face.  He stopped laughing.

 

“Something like that.  I hear Achernonians are really quite good at that sort of thing.”

 

The room went very quiet for a moment.

 

It was Tullk that asked, “Who do you need killed?”

 

Amelia turned to him, “I am not negotiating with you, Bad Wolf.”

 

Tullk narrowed his eye, “This isn’t a game, Amelia.  Who do you need killed?”

 

Amelia stood up and went back to sorting the box of supplies that was open on the lab counter.  “Take my offer to Brahl.  He can get back to me.”

 

Knix nodded and left. 

 

Tullk did not. 

 

“Are you really sending the boys to hunt someone for you?”

 

“I don't know.  I’ld have to find him first.”

 

“Tell me.”

 

“It's fine. You should go.”

 

Tullk gave her a long look, “Would you be happy being responsible for someone’s death?”

 

Amelia gritted her teeth. “Other than Tazerface, you mean?  Or the burn victim I couldn't save?  Would I be happy being responsible for the death of someone who actually wronged me instead of someone who was just in the wrong place at the wrong time?  Is that what you are asking?”  She glared at him with tears in her eyes. “You should leave now.”

 

Tullk didn't leave.  “Please tell me.”

 

“I don't want to owe you the favour.”

 

That hurt.  Tullk had years of practice not letting a hurt turn to anger, but it still hurt.  He could smell her emotional turmoil, pain, anger, fear.  He stood for a moment trying to find the right thing to say to that.  When he couldn't, he left. 

 

He was used to the Doc being vaguely afraid of people on the ship. That was only common sense, given her size and lack of fighting skills. What he wasn't used to was this level of directed fear.  And not at someone she would have to find.  Someone from before Yondu bought her?  An accomplice?

 

Tullk knew she had a life before the Ravagers, but he hadn't really thought too hard about it.   It was unusual for Terra to exile criminals to space but not entirely unheard of.   Surely whoever she left behind was out of reach now.  Why would she still be afraid months later?

 

He was prepared to admit (at least to himself) that the Doc was hitting all his kinks. Watching her small, scared and vulnerable triggered all his protective instincts.  Then she would step up and command an emergency and every fibre in his body would sit up and beg to follow her orders.  Hel, her casual, easy affection, shoulder nudges and letting her body brush his was amazing when no one else was willing to touch his scarred carcass. 

 

The smell of her happy could easily become his motivation in life. 

 

He allowed himself a few pangs of envy when Yondu made her happy and was pissed off when the blue bastard made her sad. 

 

He was pleased she was taking helping the boys seriously. They were his, in a complicated way. He did not like her bargaining for a death. That should not be. He was more than prepared to kill for her.  She should not be trading that away.   She should not be risking the boys when he could happily do it for her. 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please say something


	4. The Fourth Welder

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Micro Chapter to get the timelines right

Tullk watched the man sit down next to Amelia.  He sat on the same side of the booth as her, effectively blocking her exit.  He was currently stinking of lust and beer and trying out bad pick up lines.  The idiot was actually implying that he was doing her a favour by sitting with her.

 

Tullk considered this a stiletto job, or at least, nearly.

 

There it was.  He simultaneously asked if she was part of the recruitment package while putting his hand between her legs.

 

Tullk put his knife into the man’s spine, up through the loop of C2 and straight in through the foramen magnum.  That way, there wasn’t any splashing on the Doc. Brahl and Marlyx carried the meat to the alley door.  Snu and Jillam could get it the rest of the way back to the Eclector for processing.

 

Tullk went to check on the Doc.

 

She was shaking a little.

 

“Did he hurt you?”  Tullk made sure to sit across from her so that she could leave if she needed.

 

She didn’t say anything, but shook her head.

 

Yondu flung himself into the booth where the dead man had been. “He hurt you?!”

 

“No, Yondu.”  She crawled in to the Captain’s lap and hugged him tight for a moment.

 

Yondu hugged her for a moment, then started rubbing little circles into her back.  “Easy there girl.  I know you don’t like this, but Tullk'll keep you safe.”

 

Kraglin offered Tullk his hand.  “Thanks for movin’ so fast.”

 

Tullk shook Kraglin’s hand and looked at his face.  He saw nothing but gratitude.  Kraglin smelled of lust and sex and passing fear.  Tullk could smell a trace of the Doc on the man’s breath.  Kraglin made her happy.  He nodded and went back to the bar.

 

Czar came over and sat close enough not to be over heard.  “So… marriage by abduction?  Or are you planning a full blow coup?”

 

“Neither.” Tullk replied. “Breeding rights aren't rights.  They must be earned.  He makes her happy.  And in convincing her to accept Kraglin, he has gotten her past the weird monogamy thing that Terrans have.  I need to prove myself worthy.”

 

“If you say so.”

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Hiring Fair goes here.](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11289585)
> 
> I upped the chapter estimate, because this one doesn't really count.
> 
> Comments are greatly appreciated. Even on little chapters.


	5. Down to Business

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Moult happens

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Watch for fish! It's spawning season for the wild Red Herring.
> 
> Also - still willing to change names if requested.

Knowhere was not the best place to shop for massage oil.  Amelia was slightly horrified that this was the fifth whore house Brahl had dragged her to.  That was way too many jokes about them ‘bring his own' or ‘a snack for latter’ for her.  Tullk was following serenely behind them, apparently amused by the whole thing.  Brahl had, so far, found three oils that he didn’t mind.  But Amelia had vetoed all three.  One was too gummy, one was too sticky and the last had given her a slight rash.

 

After the rash, Tullk decided it was time to intervene.  As much fun as watching the medic try to avoid looking at the girls was…

 

“Maybe one of the grocery stores?”

 

“I don't want to smell like a salad.”

 

“I don't want to have to clean up after a carnivore who has been licking plant based oil.”

 

The Madam looked at the three of them and finally asked, “What exactly are you looking for?”

 

Amelia looked through her notes for the name of the medically recommend product.  The woman rolled her eye.*  “Check the veterinary supply place.”

 

Tullk laughed.  

 

——

 

The boys had been itchy and cranky for days, but it was Snu who kicked the whole thing off by clawing a seven inch long gash in himself in his sleep.  Brahl got Tullk, then dragged Snu to the med bay.

 

Tullk tracked the Doc to the Captain’s room.  He used the rang the comm button.

 

“Fuck off!”

 

“Need the Doc for some sewing.”

 

“I’ll be right there.”

 

“Give me ten minutes to finish with her first.”

 

Tullk sighed and leaned against the opposite wall.

 

Twelve minutes later a fully dressed, but slightly mussed Doc staggered out into the hallway. That was interesting.  She did smell like Yondu, but not like sex.  “You did some research.  I’m impressed.”

 

“I am not stupid enough to roll up to a pack of carnivores smelling like a whore house that’s open for business.”

 

“How’d you talk the Captain into that?”

 

Amelia gritted her teeth, “Persuasively.”

 

Tullk laughed.

 

Amelia cleaned and stitched up Snu, carefully pulling back the loose skin as she went.  When she was finished, Brahl came over to see her work.

 

“Hey!” Amelia snapped, “Anyone who licks that, has to wear the cone of shame!  I am not even joking about that!”

 

Tullk laughed, then went quiet as all the boys, including Brahl, ducked their heads in submission.  Wow.  That was… Godsdamnit!  He how was he going to make it through the next week?

 

“Ok! Let’s start with patient assessment.  Does everyone want to get naked at once so I can check for signs of flaking?  Or are we still in the one at a time stage?”  She didn't even watch to see what they were doing.  She turned her back on the lot of them and went to wash her hands up to the elbows.  When she was done she went back to where Snu was lying prone on the floor and knelt next to him.  She poked at the edges of the old skin. She had the whole packs full attention.

 

“I’m going to need at least three of the patient beds packed down and pushed aside.  And I’m going to need blankets.”

 

“How many?” Tullk asked.

 

“I have no idea.  Enough to nest.  Call it one each?  Eight sounds like enough.”

 

Brahl, Knix, Marlyx and Vexca started moving the beds.  Snu wasn’t moving and Jillam wasn’t moving very fast.  Tullk got the blankets and set up the opaque force field walls in a configuration that included the now empty space around where the three beds had been and one more patient space that still had a bed.  He dropped the bed all the way to the floor, leaving the sleeping surface only about 10 inches off the ground.

 

Brahl looked at that and came to help push it into a corner.

 

They heard Jillam whine.

 

Amelia had carefully peeled six or seven inches of skin off of Snu.  Brahl dropped to all fours, hung his head and sidled up to the Doc.   He whined and bumped her leg with his forehead, then cringed back.

 

She held out the skin, keeping her hand flat and her fingers tucked in.  Brahl was sweating a little as he leaned in and carefully took it from her using his lips not his teeth. “Good boy.”

 

Tullk winced.  You don’t just speak to the pack leader of a group of Achernonians as if you were talking to a puppy.  That was a good way to loose the use of your face.

 

Huh.

 

Tullk was prepared to never mention that during a moult, Brahl seemed to have a praise kink.  He never would have expected the alpha to be nuzzling her hand and pushing for ear scratches.

 

“Doc?  This is moving faster than I would have guessed.  Will you be able to get them out of their clothes?”

 

Amelia nodded and started trying to undress Snu. Brahl watched for a moment then growled something to the others and started undressing.  The rest of the boys followed suit.  Amelia looked at him as she was wiggling Snu’s pants off his body. “Thank you, Brahl!”

 

Brahl whined and rolled over, showing his belly and and impressive erection. 

 

Amelia was surprised and a little embarrassed. “No, thank you.” She said politely. 

 

Brahl sat up and growled again. The other boys came over and nuzzled and licked and took care of it for him. 

 

Amelia looked away.

 

“Are you OK, Doc?”

 

She blushed and nodded.  “I wasn’t expecting that.”

 

Tullk shrugged.  “You took his claws and you took responsibility for the well being of his pack.  It isn’t surprising that he is being submissive under those circumstances.”

 

“You were expecting that?”

 

Tullk hesitated.  “No.  And it would be a good idea to never talk about what just happened.  But Brahl accepting you as alpha in here will make things easier."

 

Snu whined and Amelia went back to working on his back.

 

The smell of Achernonian increased in the space slowly, so mostly Tullk didn’t notice too much.  Not until Yondu brought them all breakfast.

 

“Ugh!  It reeks in here!  You make sure you shower up real good before coming to bed tonight, girl!”

 

“Umm.”  Amelia said.  “I … uh…. might be here for a while.”

 

Yondu frowned.  Brahl tensed.  Tullk eased himself between them.

 

Amelia watched the whole thing then said, “Easy everyone.  I don’t want to be treating testosterone poisoning.”

 

Tullk laughed.  Yondu looked confused.  Brahl relaxed, because Amelia had told him too.

 

Yondu leaned in and put his hands on Amelia’s waist.  He nuzzled her neck.  He whispered quietly, “Want you.”  The thing was, in a room of Achernonians and Tullk, there wasn't anyone who didn't hear.

 

Amelia whispered back, “I don’t like being watched.”

 

“They ain’t gonna care right now.”

 

“Tullk will.”

 

“Not if we let him help.”

 

Interesting. Shame.  Lust.  Fear.  Why would she be afraid?  The shame would be cultural.  The lust was flattering.  But why fear?

 

“I’ll think about it.”

 

“Good.  Make your panties all wet by the time I bring lunch.” Then he left.

 

Tullk was prepared to ignore the whole thing, but Vexca wasn't that far gone.  “Why are you afraid of having sex with Tullk?”

 

All the boys cowered and ducked away at the shame pouring off of her.

 

“I…  um…  I was gang raped before Yondu bought me.  It isn’t Tullk.  It’s being naked in a room full of males.”

 

Tullk was amazed, but Brahl pulled himself together at that.  “You want us to kill them?”

 

“No.  My husband who let it happen.”  That made everyone growl and snarl in rage.  “It isn't that easy.  I don’t know how to find him.”

 

“We’ll figure something out.” Tullk said.

 

“I don't want Yondu to know I'm asking for this.”

 

Everyone went very still and watched her for a moment.  Then Brahl nodded. 

 

——

 

Most of Snu’s back was peeled by the time Yondu brought lunch.  Amelia had even started picking at some of the other boys’ backs, trying to keep it from getting to the point where they were ready to claw themselves open.

 

“Thinking happy thoughts for me, girl?”

 

Amelia blushed, Yondu laughed. Brahl crept forward and licked Amelia's hand. 

 

“That's fucking weird.”

 

“It's a byproduct of the hormones. Their bodies adapt to that they don't go into shock during a moult.  They are all instinct and biological drives at this point.”

 

“Hey!”

 

“Except for Knix, who is still fighting it.”

 

“Huh. _See anything you like_?” Yondu asked with a leer. 

 

“Mostly the novelty is wearing off.” Amelia replied. 

 

_“You and the Bad Wolf getting along ok?”_

 

_“Yeah. He isn't saying too much.  It makes him nervous when they all crowd around, but so far it's been fine.  I could do with less slobber, but that's not going to happen.  I'm a little worried about how sleeping is going to work.”_

 

Yondu turned to Tullk, “You gonna be able to keep ‘em off her when she's sleeping?”

 

“Yes, Boss. If she wants.”

 

“I don't want any of you touching me while I'm sleeping.”

 

“Right. I remember, Doc.  I'll try to be careful with that.  You coming to sleep here, Boss?”

 

Yondu frowned.  “We'll see.”

 

“That means no.” Amelia said sadly.

 

“Our boy is still yucked out by just the video of the skin thing. He ain't coming any where near the med bay just now. You'll be fine.  Tullk’ll take care of you.”

 

_“I can share with Kraglin, but I want a turn tomorrow.”_

 

 _“Hon?"_  Yondu said gently, _"Bad Wolf has a free pass, remember?  Anything you need from him, just ask.  I trust him to be good to you.”_

 

Amelia shook her head. “ _That's a trap. You were barely ok with the Mohawk getting a turn.”_

 

Yondu opened his mouth to deny it, then closed it again and actually thought for a moment before answering. “ _Yur right. But when I was young and stupid, I thought I was in love with him.  Sometimes I wanna see him fuck you ‘til yur blissed out an walkin’ funny the next day just cuz I knows he can. Cuz I know how good that feels.  But yur right. I wants to watch. An’ I wanna know that even after that, yur still MINE!”_

 

_“If you want to make a statement of ownership, you will need to sleep here tonight.  I’ve already been propositioned by almost everyone.”_

 

_“What!?”_

 

_“Yeah.  Procedure seems to be, roll over and offer me their dick, then let the others lick them off after I refuse.  Tullk says it’s because they see me as alpha, but…  Yondu, if Brahl challenges me I will lose.”_

 

“That true?”

 

“I’m sorry, Boss.  I missed that.”

 

“That they keep offering her dick cuz she’s alpha.”

 

“Oh!  Yes, Boss.  We did talk about that, remember, Boss?”

 

“Yeah.  I remember.  You never said what happens if she’s rude.”

 

“Well… I think you talked about helping out so she wouldn’t be.  Knix and I can leave for that, if you want.”

 

“What happens if I don’t?”

 

“I don’t know.” Tullk answered honestly.  “This hasn’t exactly gone quite like I imagined.”

 

“Brahl will become more insistent.” Knix answered.  “An unclaimed female can’t be alpha.  If you’re her favourite, that’s one thing.  But… she needs someone for the pack to recognize as her mate.”

 

“Huh.” Yondu said.  “I’ll think about it.”

 

Tullk followed Yondu out when he left Amelia feeding the boys raw meat strips out of the bowl he brought.  “What’s there to think about?  You aren’t really going to let Brahl assault her are you?”

 

“No.  I’m going to trust that you’ll kill him before it gets to that.  She’s alpha in there.  I don’t want those boys seein’ me be submissive to her.  And it will hurt her cred bein’ submissive to me.”

 

“The pack is stable.  If I kill Brahl, it won’t be.”

 

“Knixi’ll take over as alpha and they’ll be fine.”

 

“Yondu-“

 

“You don't like it?  Come up with something else." and with that, Yondu stormed off.

 

 

 

 

* started as a typo, but I like it, so I left it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please say something. I want to know if my plans are working.... but I don't want to give away the plans by asking pointed questions. So the best I can do is a vague:
> 
> What did you think?


	6. The Distraction

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fall out from Yondu's visit. And other kinds of falls.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Editing to follow in the morning
> 
> Also, I'm sure this isn't want the naming volunteers thought they where signing up for, and I can still find at replace at anytime if you are yucked out.

 

“Does Yondu know about the rape?”  Knix asked.  He flinched at the panic that flared in Amelia in response to even just the word.

 

“Yes.”

 

“And he is leaving you with us anyway?”  Knix hissed with anger.

 

Amelia looked around the room and saw a lot of bared teeth and raised hackles.  “Easy.” she said calmly and tried to project that calm at the boys.  It seemed to work, at least a little.  “He trusts me to handle it. He expects me to just leave, if I can’t.  He trust Tullk to guard me, if I have misjudged.”

 

“And Yondu’s first priority, Kraglin, is disgusted by us.” Knix added.

 

“They have known each other a long time.  Yondu wants me to leave you tonight and go back to his bed.   Which I would be happy to do, if you are all stable.  I just don’t know if that is going to happen.”

 

“If you need to leave, do it.” Knix insisted.  “We are already better off than if you hadn’t intervened.”

 

“I will stay as long as I can.  My goal for this moult is getting you all through it with no additional scarring.  I already failed Snu.  I don’t want anymore accidents.”

 

At that, the whole pack crowded in, rubbing against her legs like a litter of overgrown kittens.  Amelia stroked any heads that were close enough to reach.  Brahl, bumped her hand with his head for more.

 

“Eye ridges and suture lines on the skull have the most nerve ending.” Knix suggested.  “It feels really good there.”

 

Amelia gave that a try.  Brahl nearly purred.

 

Then Tullk came in, saw Amelia surrounded and tensed.  “You OK, Doc?”  He said it lightly, but his hand was on the hilt on his belt knife.  

 

Brahl pushed himself between Amelia and Tullk and stood up, to his full height, growling.

 

“Stop it!” Amelia snapped. “Both of you!  Calm down!  This is fine!  Neither of you is a threat.  Everyone back down!”

 

Brahl dropped to a crouch, but kept his gaze locked on Tullk.  Holding eye contact.   The challenge was still there, it was just slightly disguised from Amelia.  His lips were still slightly curled back so the tips of his fangs were showing.  The air between them could have crackled.

 

Until Amelia asked, “Ok!  Who’s next for back scratches?”

 

At which point, Brahl wanted to be front of the line.

 

Jillam was slowing right down.  It was apparent that he was next.  Amelia had everyone wait in the room and started digging through the drawers.

 

"What are you looking for, Doc?" Tullk asked.

 

"A proper scalpel." Amelia replied. "Not a lazer cutter or incision maker or anything fancy.  A plain, old fashioned scalpel blade."

 

"Second bank of cupboards, third drawer from the bottom."  Tullk answered promptly.

 

"I don't see them."

 

"Tiny box, way in the back left corner."

 

"Got it!  How did you know that?"

 

"I helped shelf inventory after the first trip to Kallu, remember?" Tullk replies.  "I'm good at keeping track of things."

 

Amelia came in and had Jillam lay flat on his belly on the floor.  "I need you to be very still." she said. She started carefully cutting through the top layer of the old skin.  "Very still.  So still.  good boy.  Keep being still. So still.  So good for me.  Good Job. Very still."  While she was talking she ran the blade down the ridge of his spine like she was opening a zipper.  When she reached his tail bone, she stopped and offered the scalpel to Tullk.  "Can you put that on the counter and remember which one belongs to which person?"

 

"Sure thing, Doc."

 

The she put her hands on each side of Jillam's skin and pulled the old skin apart.  The sound of relief Jillam made as the old skin opened and started to fall away was almost orgasmic.   Amelia didn't try to pull any off yet.  She just concentrated on making an opening.  Once she had finished and moved her hands away, Jillam flopped over on to his back and wiggled in what Amelia thought of as the classic dog rolling in the grass maneuver.   He made little grunts of satisfaction that had all the other boys paying attention.

 

Knix's speach was starting to slur a little as he asked, "Where did you learn to do that?"

 

"Um... I guessed?"

 

Tullk and Knix stared at her.  Jillam wiggled happily, licking Amelia's hands, arms and any other exposed skin he could reach from his crouch on the floor.

 

"You guessed?"  Tullk asked, flatly.

 

"Um... yes?  Like peeling a _shrimp_?  Right?"

 

"I don't know what that is." Tullk said.

 

"It's... You know, just don't worry about that.  It seems to have worked fairly well."

 

Jillam was very keen on what Amelia had just done and rolled over to show off how much he appreciated it.  Amelia again shook her head, no. 

 

"There is a lot more fellacio than I was expecting." Amelia said as she was watching the ceiling again. 

 

Tullk shrugged. 

 

When they had finished, Knix said, "It stretches and loosens the skin.  No one wants to be clawing open their penis to get rid of the old layer.  Then at some point, while we are licking, the old layer just comes off and some lucky person gets it."

 

Amelia gagged slightly.  They all looked at her. 

 

"You still ok, Doc?" Tullk asked. 

 

"Yeah...  just... outside of my comfort zone."  She started breathing through her mouth.  "I'm.... just...  going to get some water."

 

No one was in immediate physical distress, but they all got a little worried when she left the med bay.

 

——

 

Quinlan had hit the second stage of her pregnancy. Gone was the nausea and vomiting, on with the tender breasts and hormonal mood swings. Current status: embarrassingly horny.  She was pretty sure Winch was on to her.  He kept giving her the repair jobs that could be done sitting down.  Not that she was complaining. The Doc talking up a back injury had most of the crew being kind. 

 

 Quinlan put her hands on her hips and leaned back from her soldering station.  She gave a little masculine (she hoped) grunt of discomfort and tried to stretch out the kink.  Jai the new welder was also working in the room with her. He turned off his torch. 

 

“Need a break?” he asked. 

 

“Need a beer.” She joked. 

 

“Me too.” He grinned. “What happened to your back?”

 

“I compressed a disk helping put down the mutiny a few months back.  Then I didn't go see the doc right away. Now I'm paying for it and she's being real careful to not say anything about me refusing treatment for months.”

 

“Huh.  Don't she got no pain relief for that?”

 

“Yeah. But in my species it cause weight gain and breast development.” Quinlan said carefully sticking to the script the doc had worked up for her.  “So, I'm trying for minimal doses.”

 

Jai leaned back against the counter.  “Doesn't seem to be working.”

 

Quinlan shrugged and picked up the soldering iron.   People around here came in all shapes, sizes and colours. It made it easy to hide.  Jai seemed nice enough, but he was about a foot too tall for her, and she mostly went for males who were heavier set. 

 

Doc, for example, was half the woman Quinlan was. 

 

But she was good at keeping a secret, and right now that was more important to Quinlan than the woman's physical appearance. 

 

Quinlan was able to finish the board she was working on, but when she leaned over to get the next one, her chair unbalanced and tipped her onto the floor.   As she was getting up, Jai came over to help. She was swearing a blue streak, but when he put his hand on the small of her back, her libido completely bypassed her brain and let out a whimper. 

 

“Ah, Hel!  Sorry, buddy!”

 

Quinlan ignored him, got to her feet, still cussing and kicked the chair.  Which promptly broke.

 

“Um…” Jai said.  “Look.  You go get the doc to have a look at ya, I’ll fix that.”

 

“Thanks.” Quinlan gritted out as she left.

 

——

 

When Quinlan got to the med bay, the sign said _The Doctor was IN_.  Peter had made if for the Doc.  She had laughed and laughed.  No one else had gotten it.  Not even those who spoke Terran, but the crew has learned that the short two character word meant open and the longer three character word, _OUT,_ meant closed.

 

However, despite Amelia being IN, there was no sign of her.  There was a large area off limits for patient confidentiality.  Quinlan decided to wait.  She curled up in on one of the recliners to wait. 

 

After a long while, Tullk came out of the patient room. “Everything alright there, Quinlan?”

 

“I’m having some problems I wanted to talk to Amelia about.”

 

“Ah!  Um… she has stepped out for a moment, but-“

 

“But I’m back now.’  Amelia said as she walked in.  “How are the patients, Tullk?”

 

“Getting nervous.   Would you check on them for a moment before you see to Quinlan?”

 

“Give to a moment to check in, and I’ll figure out how to manage this.”  Amelia replied.

 

“This isn't another parasite, is it?” Quinlan asked.

 

“Nope!  Normal biological process that just needs a little oversight.” Amelia said watching Tullk leave.  “Come on.  Let’s get you some privacy too.”

 

As soon as the privacy field was up, Amelia asked, “Did something happen?”

 

Quinlan, to her horror, started to cry.  “I’m all emotional and horny and I fell out of a chair and the new guy isn’t sexy but he put his hand on my back and it was like going into heat!”

 

“O…kay…  Um… Let me get the doppler and we will deal with the fell out of a chair first.”  As soon as Amelia opened the door, Vexca crawled in and rubbed up against her before noticing Quinlan.  Amelia physically put herself between the Achernonian and the pregnant woman and growled a firm, “NO!  MINE!”

 

Vexca immediately whimpered and cowered back, but this brought the rest of the boys out.

 

Amelia turned the door back on.  “it’s OK, Tullk will get them back into their room in a minute.”

 

“What’s wrong with him?  He has a skin disease or something?”

 

“No.  This is just moult.  They shed their skin and get on with their lives.  I’m helping because it is really itchy.  But the same way you trust them not to gossip about you… I need you to not gossip about them, understand?”

 

“Sure thing, Doc.”

 

Amelia turned the force field settings so that she could see out but the boys couldn’t see in.  Tullk was having some problems.  “They are under the influence of some pretty powerful hormones just now.  Wait here.  I’ll go help.  They are kind of programmed to worship pregnant females.  I suspect you are being a little distracting.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments are always appreciated


	7. Just Blame the Hormones

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I reserve the right to add another couple of hundred words to this. But ...
> 
> Hey look! This is what I wrote today!

 

“You all need to go back to you room!  I need to check on Quinlan.”

 

Tullk looked a little frazzled.  “He’s fine, the baby’s fine. You need to go back into the room with them.  You were upset, then you left, then you were gone for an hour and they got worried.”

 

“How’s Jillam?”  Amelia asked, herding everyone towards their room.

 

“You have no idea how big that was when you opened him up like that.  But you need to finish taking off the skin.” Tullk insisted.

 

“It wasn’t ready yet.”

 

“It is now.  They won’t let me help and everyone wants to chew on it.”

 

“There is only one of me and I need to check on Quinlan, and I can’t exactly say, “Tullk says the baby is fine so go back to work.” now can I?”

 

“I’ll check on Quinlan, you work on the boys.”

 

Amelia was able to peel big strips off of Jillam, but when she held it out for the boys, no one would take it.  Huh.  That was odd, because she could see where they had been nibbling while she was away.  She took a sample and ran it through the mass spec.  It was fine.  High in protein, with a reasonable amount of riboflavin, magnesium, manganese, calcium and iron.  Process it with chocolate and it would put protein bars to shame back home.

 

“Everything OK, Doc?”

 

“I don’t know.  They boys stopped eating.”

 

“Ah...  I think they are waiting for Quinlan.”

 

“Wait for me to what?” They turned to see Quinlan coming out of the other patient room.

 

“Um…. “ Amelia said intelligently. 

 

Knix came out wearing a pair of shorts.  “Moult skin is high in nutrients, so pregnant and nursing female get to eat first.”

 

Quinlan blushed a deep purple.  

 

“It’s culturally different for me too.” Amelia said, “It can be hard to adjust-“

 

“Is it safe?” Quinlan asked.

 

“Yeah…  I mean, I think so.  I can’t find anything on the mass spec that would be harmful, unless you turn out to have an allergy or something.”

 

“Can I try it?”

 

“Sure?”

 

“I’ve been eating some weird things lately.  I compulsively licked one of the rivets on my bed last night.  That wasn't normal.”

 

“Back home we call it _pika_ , it’s a sign of iron deficiency.  You are probably crunching ice cubes too.” 

 

“What's it taste like?”  Quinlan asked. 

 

“Um.” Amelia hesitantly ripped off a tiny piece and chewed thoughtfully, “really bland and chewy.”

 

“Doc.” Tullk said. 

 

Amelia looked over her shoulder to where the whole pack was watching. “Sorry. I guess I wasn't actually invited to do that.”  

 

Brahl came over and nuzzled her hand and wiggled happily. 

 

“That was…. Surprisingly sexy.” Knix said. “Quinlan, would you try some?”

 

Amelia hesitated. “What are the long term implications of feeding Quinlan?”

 

“Of treating her as pack, you mean?  Well, she would be under the protection of the pack.” Knix replied. 

 

“Quinlan is presenting as male, so you really need to use male pronouns.  Would Brahl demand breeding rights or anything?”

 

Knix hesitated,  “The… um…. Person with the uterus gets to choose who to mate with.”

 

“Or not to?” Amelia pressed. 

 

“Sure?  But um… he wants to so…”

 

They both turned to Quinlan. “You don't have to agree to anything.” Amelia said. 

 

“It smells good.” Quinlan whispered. 

 

“So do you.” Knix replied. 

 

Quinlan followed Amelia’s lead and ripped off a tiny piece to try.  She chewed thoughtfully, “Not bad. I could eat that.”  She took another bigger piece.  “It's kind of…” she chewed for a moment, “needs more salt.” She reached for the last piece, but Amelia caught her wrist. 

 

“How about we wait a couple of hours to make sure you don't have a reaction before you keep going?”

 

“Ok.”  Quinlan felt surprisingly disappointed at that. “Can I stay here for a while?”

 

“Sure.” Amelia answered. “Why don't you have a nap?” she suggested as she walked into the boys’ room. 

 

“Ok.” Quinlan followed Amelia into the room and lay down on the bed. Brahl came and curled up at her feet. That wasn't what she had meant, but Amelia reorganized the patient rooms so the force field included an extra patient bay and another bed.

 

Quinlan seemed happy to nap. Amelia was busy cleaning the boys.

 

Eventually, Yondu turned up with supper.  “What’s he doing?”  He demanded indicating Quinlan. 

 

“Recovering from a fall when he already has a back injury.”  

 

“Huh.” Yondu said.  “He and Tullk will stay with the boys and I'm taking you for supper.”

 

“Um…. I don't think he would be able to help much if anything goes wrong.” Amelia replied. 

 

“As your Captain, I am insisting.”

 

Amelia still hesitated. 

 

“They should be ok for and hour or so, Doc.  I'll page you if anything goes wrong.” Tullk said. 

 

“See that it don't.” Yondu warned. 

 

——

 

Yondu brought Amelia back to his room.  Kraglin was waiting with a nicer than usual supper.

 

“You have a nice day, ‘Melia?”  Kraglin asked.

 

“It was kind of weird to be totally honest.” she replied.

 

“Oh?”  Kraglin asked, looking slightly sick.

 

“Yeah, well, Yondu told me to have sex with Tullk-“

 

“WHAT?!” Kraglin demanded.

 

Amelia ignored him and continued, “-because the boys have all lost their minds due to hormones and they kept offering me their dicks.  I got so annoyed with saying no! I wasn’t going to let Tullk, but Yondu insisted that he was to busy to scent mark me himself.”

 

Yondu looked shocked but didn’t say anything.

 

“After about the twentieth time someone offered to fuck me, I finally realized that it wasn't going to stop unless they saw me a having my own mate.  And Tullk was there and he wanted to and Yondu told me to, so I figured, what the hell, it’s only sex, right?  Except that I forgot that part where you said he wasn’t going to want to taste you on me and we didn't use a condom.  Fortunately, it didn’t bother the Achernonians at all.  Their teeth are crazy scary, but their tongues are really long!-”

 

Kraglin looked horrified.  Yondu was scowling furiously at the back of Amelia’s head.

 

“I really didn’t want to do it, I was completely freaked out by being vulnerable in a room of horny, naked males.  But I just kept reminding myself that Yondu asked me to.  I’m sure he will be so proud, he'll by me something shiny! And never ever ask me to do that again, my beautiful idiot.”  She turned at looked at him for the last line.  “Because even if you are stupid enough to tell me to, I know better than to actually do that.”

 

Yondu sagged in relief.

 

Kraglin just looked confused.  “That never happened then, right?”

 

“Oh Yondu totally told me to have sex with Tullk.  I just know he doesn’t actually want that.”

 

“I don’t want that!”  Kraglin said.  “You decide to kick the Captain out of bed, I call dibs way before Tullk.”  Kraglin’s face went funny when he realized what he said.  “I mean, it’s yur decision … you can say no if you …  Fuck.” Kraglin stopped talking and took a breath. He let it out slowly, then said, “I love you, ‘Melia.”

 

“Aw!  I love you too, Kraglin!”

 

Yondu put his hands on her waist and kissed that spot on her neck that she liked.  “Time to make you smell like me?”  Yondu asked.

 

“Um-hm.” Amelia said leaning back against him.

 

——

 

Quinlan woke up to the smell of food.  Half of the Achernonians were in a pile on a bunch of blankets spread out on the floor.  She found Tullk, Knix, Vexca and Marlyx eating in the main area of the med bay.  Vexca and Marlyx seemed to be having trouble running their fingers.  Tullk and Knix were ignoring it.

 

“Where’s the doc?”  Quinlan asked.

 

“Boss took her for dinner.” Tullk answered.

 

“Please sit down and eat with us.” Knix said politely.

 

“Um… OK.”  Tullk reaches into the thermal bag and pulled out a meat and veg stew for her.  It was different that Knix’s meat stew or Marlyx and Vaxca’s raw meat strips.  Quinlan hesitated.  “You all look so uncomfortable.  I’m in the way.  I could go.”

 

Tullk shook his head.  “At least eat first.  If you are in the way, I promise I will tell you.  Doc’s gonna need a spare pair of hands once this gets going.  You haven't panicked yet, so you’re doing better than Kraglin.”

 

“Wait, Kraglin panicked?” Quinlan asked, taking a spoonful of stew.

 

“Not exactly.” Tullk corrected himself.  “He just refuses to come in here with us.”

 

“Huh.  That falls into the category of med bay secret, I bet.”

 

“I would think so, yes.” Tullk replied.

 

Brahl came out, yawning.  When he saw Quinlan, he flopped over, belly up.

 

“Umm… What’s he doing?”

 

“Offering to have sex with you.” Knix replied simply.

 

“His skin looks horrible!”

 

“He’s next in line to moult.”  Knix said.  “Give him another hour and he’ll hardly be moving at all.  He’s isn’t really up to mating right now, but-“ he stopped talking.

 

“But what?”  Quinlan asked.

 

Tullk made eye contact with Knix and shook his head, no.

 

“Tell me what's going on!”  Quinlan demanded.

 

“Well… it’s just that you smell like you…. could use a little help with …. that just now.”

 

Quinlan concentrated on her stew.  She could feel her face burning.

 

“I’m sorry.  That was rude.  I know better than to comment on a sof- on a person’s smell.”

 

“You’re not wrong.” Quinlan mumbled. “I just don’t usually go for lean, mean carnivorous type.”

 

Knix shrugged and ate his stew.  “I don’t usually go for the veggie eaters, but the whole baby on board thing is really working for you.”

 

Quinlan was horrified.  “I thought I could hide it!”

 

“Not from us.” Tullk said, “But we’ll keep your secret.”

 

“I only just finished the first section of my pregnancy!  I still have more than 180 days to go!  This is never going to work!”

 

“Easy, there!  Doc will make sure it works.  We’ll help if you need.  I can get you transferred to supplies and give you a nice cushy desk job with lots of nap time.” Tullk offered.

 

“Why would you do that?”

 

“Because I have a wife and children once.  I loved them dearly.  I remember how scared my wife was, how hard the pregnancies were on her.  Plus, you are meticulous.  I don't want to lose you as a crew member.”

 

“I can't stick around with a baby.”

 

Tullk shrugged.

 

Knix had to concentrate on his breathing.  He wasn’t actually due to start his moult until Brahl was almost done, but sitting this close to Quinlan was messing with his hormones.  Telling himself that she was prey didn’t help.  Achernonians didn’t hunt pregnant prey or females with small offspring.  If she ate their skin, she and her baby would smell like they belonged to the pack.  He could tell that Brahl was jonesing for the Doc really hard, but right now, Quinlan was all Knix could think about.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments, as always, are appreciated.


	8. Working Together

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just don't even know. But I can still see the wrap up in another two chapters

 

Quinlan was gone when Amelia got back, Amelia was a little worried that she hadn’t actually been able to do a post fall exam.  She wasn’t entirely sure she trusted Tullk and Knix’s sense of smell that everything was OK.  She was distracted by the swarm of Achernonians bumping her and trying to lick everything.  It was like coming home to a litter of puppies.  If the puppies were all around six feet tall and 180 lbs.  And, basically, pitbulls: friendly and playful and capable of huge destruction if you didn’t treat them right.

 

Jillam was truly down at this point and Snu’s hands and feet were covered in blister like bubbles where the skin had let go.  Amelia filled a basin with Achernonian balanced saline and had Snu soak his feet.  After about twenty minutes and a brisk towelling, the old skin slid off like a really disgusting sock, or the paraffin durning a spa pedicure.  Amelia closed her eyes and couldn’t watch to see how the pack dealt with that.  Even just hearing the sounds of chewing was pretty bad.

 

After a while, Knix said, “How did you know that would work?”

 

“I didn’t.  I’m still just winging this.  But it seemed like a reasonable thing to try. Especially when you described shedding penile skin.”

 

No one said anything about how their hands and feet were all scared up from trying to claw skin off when the transition from thick skin (lots of clawing) to thin (lots of bleeding) was so hard to define.  Snug’s feet were all clean and ready to go.  He wasn’t going to have to spend a week waiting for his scratches to heal.  Jillam’s back skin had all come off in very few pieces instead of shredded strips.  

 

Moult never went this well.

 

If it continued like this, it would be worth hunting and killing as many rapists as she could name.

 

“Snu?  Do you think you can not chew on your hands for a couple of hours?  They aren’t ready yet.”

 

Snu whined and licked her face.

 

“I'm not sure if that was a yes.

 

Snu rolled over and proudly displayed a moult free penis and lower abdomen. 

 

“Huh.  Kind of glad I missed that part, actually.”  She thought about that for a moment. “If the licking works so well there, why not just do that everywhere?”

 

“I don’t think it’s just the licking.”  Knix said carefully,   “The old skin doesn't shrink back all the way after….  well, AFTER.”

 

Amelia did a quick inspection on everyone and decided they would all be OK for a couple of hours.  Then she helped someone who walked in with a dislocated gleno-humeral joint and explained to some else that she couldn’t help with a separated acromio-clavicular joint.  It took some time to explain that, while, yes, they were both dislocated shoulders, they weren’t actually the same thing.

 

By the time the second guy had left and Amelia had cleaned up after, she was having a really hard time keeping her eyes open.  Tullk locked up the med bay, led her into the patent room and talked her into taking off her shoes for a moment to lay down.  Just for a moment.  And fifteen minutes later when she was completely asleep, he called Yondu and asked how to handle the night mares.

 

When Yondu got there, Amelia was asleep in the bed, and six naked carnivores were asleep in a ring around the bed.  He pushed Brahl out of the way with his foot, then crawled into bed behind her.  He tucked her up against his body and whispered, “Easy there.  I got ya.”  The tension just drained from her body.

 

“I wish I had seen her first.”

 

“Won’t’ve made no difference.  You wouldn’t have bought a slave.”

 

“I would treat her better than you do.”

 

“Yeah… but ain’t no one ever treated me as good as she does.”

 

“Yondu-“

 

“Save it.  You wanna get in here or not?”

 

“That bed isn’t that big.”

 

“Been squashing her and Kraglin in my bed for most of a year.  You’ll fit.”

 

With a little care, Tullk fit just fine.

 

——

 

Amelia wasn’t really awake when she wiggled out of Yondu’s arms, and crawled over Kraglin to head to the bathroom.  Except Kraglin was the wrong shape.  And so was the bed.  She was disorientated and confused and made a little cry in alarm.  Suddenly, a pair of strong arms had her around her middle and she was dragged across the room.  Snu and Jillam curled around her and Brahl, Marlyx and Vexca were standing between her and the bed growling and snarling.  Knix was standing off to the side speaking calmly and slowly in a language Amelia’s translator wasn’t picking up on.  Yondu and Tullk were both standing ready for a fight.

 

“Yondu?”

 

“I’m here.  You hurt, girl?”

 

“No.  I… I don’t understand-“ she untangled herself and pushed herself to her feet, “-what is going on.  I just need to pee.” She absentmindedly pushed Brahl out of the way and headed to the toilet.

 

“Or that works.” Knix said with a mix of shock and surprise in his voice.

 

A moment later there was the sound of a flush, then Amelia washing her hands then she wandered bleary eyed back to the room.  “Why are you all standing in a circle?”

 

“Hurt you?” Brahl growled.

 

“No, you didn’t hurt me.  You scared the crap out of me, though.  Don't do that again.”

 

Brahl struggled for words.  “Blue hurt you?”

 

“Blue?  You mean Yondu?  No.  He’s keeps me warm and safe.  Go back to sleep. I’m too tired for this.”

 

“Scars hurt you?”

 

“What?  No!  Just go to sleep!” She hesitated.  “Anyone messed up?  You need help?”

 

There was much shaking of heads and Snu licking his hands.  Amelia checked them.  “Still not ready.  I could pick at them if you like, but the feet thing worked so well…  I would rather soak them in the morning.”

 

Snu nodded and licked her face again.

 

“OK.  Can I go back to sleep now?  I am really tired.  Yesterday had an early start and us squishy Terrans aren’t biologically programmed for 30 hour days.”

 

“Com’on.”  Yondu said.  “If we snuggle up, Tullk won’t have to sleep on the floor.”

 

Amelia considered that.  “Where’s Kraglin?”

 

“Sleeping in his room.  Tullk was makin’ a good third, but I forgot to warn him about you getting up at night.”

 

“Yondu, I am too damn tired to be playing games.”

 

“Well, come to bed then and don’t worry about it.” 

 

Amelia frowned at him, but did as she was told.  “Tullk’s just gonna crawl in to keep yur other side safe.”

 

“m’kay.” Everyone on the bed was dressed except for shoes.  Tullk made a good pillow.  Listening to his heart beat really slowly, Amelia fell back to sleep.

 

——

 

 

They all woke to the smell of breakfast.  When Tullk went out to investigate, Quinlan had brought a basket of breakfasts.  There were a lot of scrambled eggs and sausages, plus the almost toast that Amelia liked for those of the group that produced amylase and a whole thermos of coffee.

 

“Quinlan, you are my hero.”  Amelia said, pouring herself a cup.

 

“I was reassigned here indefinitely.”

 

Amelia hesitated.  “Are you OK with that?”

 

Quinlan just shrugged.  “How are they doing?”  

 

Amelia poured a bowl of warm saline and had Snu soak his hands.  Quinlan plopped down next to him and started spoon feeding him eggs.

 

“If we had a tub, Snu would likely be done today, but I don’t have a way to soak his arms and legs, other than damp compresses.  We’ll have to try something like that for his head and face too.”

 

“Sedation would help with that.”  Knix said.  “For me at least.  When you are wrapping my head and face in damp cloths.”

 

“I’ll keep that in mind.”  Amelia promises.

 

Quinlan had much bigger hands, so the Doc put her in charge of working on Jillam.  Knix sat with her and talked her through it.  He also kept encouraging her to help herself because the boys didn’t really need it.  After the first couple of bland pieces, it started to taste like heaven.

 

Once Quinlan was full, then the boys would take it from her, licking her hands and wrists as they did so.  Quinlan felt flushed.  There was no way being licked by carnivores should feel that good.  By the time she was done as much as she could on Jillam, she was ready for a shower and some ‘alone time.’

 

As she pushed herself to her feet, Jillam rolled over.  Quinlan recoiled.  Knix snapped something and Jillam slinked off.

 

“Sorry.” Knix said. “You… smell like you could use some help.  Since you are helping us, it seems only polite we offer to help you.”

 

“Doc says it’s normal, but I have a nearly one track mind right now.  Sorry if it is bothering you.”  Quinlan was hugely embarrassed.  Blood rushed to her face and brought her wonderful smell to the surface with it.

 

Knix tried to think of a culturally appropriate way to beg for sex.  “Please let me help.” She smelled surprised.  “I will be very careful.  My tongue is nice and soft.  I won't get you pregnant or have you catch anything.  You can have to Doc scan me, I’m clean.”

 

Quinlan blushed even harder and looked away.  She awkwardly cleared her throat.  “Just you?  I don’t want to be swarmed.”

 

Knix nodded.

 

Quinlan took his hand and led him to one of the other patient beds.  Then she turned on the privacy settings.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feel the muse.
> 
> If the consensus is a vote for smut, I will need to increase the chapter count and the rating.


	9. Sleeping arrangements

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another day of moult management comes to an end

“That was interesting.” Amelia said, as the privacy wall went up.

 

“Not really.” said Tullk.

 

Brahl looked uncertain.

 

“Easy.  Leave it.”  Amelia said, and she went over to rub his back.  He relaxed and leaned into her touch.

 

“Tell me about your soon to be late husband.”  Tullk said, as he was pinning Snu for Amelia to inject the sedation.

 

“Not much to tell.”

 

“If you want him dead, there has to be something.”

 

“I’m negotiated with Brahl.  It doesn’t involve you.”

 

“Now that is stu-  not well thought out.  I have suppliers with contacts in every port.  I will have an easier time finding him.  He can’t actually hurt me when I go for him.  You said you don’t want to owe me the favour, but you are taking care of my boys and we all owe you.”

 

“How do you fit with them?”

 

Tullk sighed.  “It’s complicated.  I’m not part of the pack.  I would never challenge Brahl for leadership.  But… they respect me and will ask me for advice.  I keep them as …extended family.  Once Brahl became nonverbal, you started treating them like dogs-“

 

“I don’t-“

 

Tullk held up a hand.  “That’s fine.  They move and think almost like a pack of dogs and it is likely the best way for you to understand their behaviour just now.  You are kind to them, like you would be to a family pet.”  Tullk paused and watched her for a moment. “That is mostly how I see them all the time.  Even when they are verbal, they… aren’t really that intelligent.  Knix is a genius by Achernonian standards and I doubt he is as smart as you.  They aren’t inherently space going.  They were originally harvested from their planet by the Kree to act as sort of guard dogs.  Boarder patrol that could smell contraband.  

 

“I don’t want you thinking I am infantilizing them, but thinking of the lot of them as something between a guard dog and 15 year old Terran is about the best way to understand.  They need routine and orders.  They are driven by food and sex and fitting in with the pack.  They are a little weak in the areas of abstract thought, deductive reasoning, meta-analysis and introspection.”

 

Amelia nodded slowly.

 

“So… if your husband is somewhere that it is going to take any kind of planning to get to.  They are not the best choice for the job.  If you run into him in a bar and can point him out, they would be excellent at tracking him through the city and bringing most of him back, either alive or dead depending on your preference.”

 

Amelia considered this for a long moment.  “You are arguing, that you would be better suited to the job and I should owe you a favour instead.”

 

“I am arguing that you are spending your time taking care of the closest thing to family that I have.  I am asking to let me repay the favour you are doing me.”

 

Amelia scrubbed her face and thought about that.  “OK.  But I still don’t know how to find him.”

 

“Tell me about the last time you saw him.”

 

“He was going to push me out an air lock, but some random crew member talked him into selling me instead.”

 

Tullk went very still at that.  “And the crew raped you before taking you to the slavers.”

 

Amelia dropped her gaze.  “No.  That happened earlier.”

 

“He allowed that to happen earlier.”

 

“In a complicated way, he directly caused that to happen earlier.”

 

They sat in silence for a while.  Marlyx came and rubbed against Amelia making little grunting noises.  Amelia wiped her eyes and looked at Tullk.  “If I cry on your shoulder for a moment, will you get the wrong idea?”

 

“If I rub your back while you do it, will you?”

 

Amelia almost fell on him.  Tullk was expecting the big, ugly cry.  What he got was silent tears of absolute despair.  He didn’t rub her back.  He just hugged her tight.  

 

After a moment, she pulled away and stood up.  “Thank you.  Sorry, but I think I have messed your shirt a little.”

 

“It’ll dry. When you are ready, I think Snu is ready for you to work your magic on his face.”

 

Amelia wrapped hot towels around Snu, being careful not to block his airway.  “I’m not sure how much is magic.  It’s more educated guesses and a heaping dollop of dumb luck.”

 

——

 

  Amelia and Tullk had Snu pretty much picked clean by the time Quinlan and Knix came out of the room.  Amelia was vaguely impressed that…. whatever had happened…  had taken nearly three hours.  By this point Vexca was slowing down. 

 

“Knix?” Amelia asked, “They start moving slower before the old skin starts to really get ready to fall off.  Why is that?”

 

Knix considered this. “It gets stiff and starts to feel too tight.  It's really uncomfortable.  You just want to lay down and not move much because you can feel it pressing on you, everywhere.”  He was speaking really slowly and carefully. 

 

“You are getting close too, aren't you?”  Amelia asked gently. 

 

“Yeah.  My skin is for Quinlan first.  Promise?  Feed Quinlan first.”

 

Amelia looked at Quinlan who was suddenly avoiding eye contact. “Ok. If that is alright with Quinlan.”

 

Quinlan nodded. 

 

——

 

Amelia was so tired.  SO tired!  Aside from helping the carnies, she was also trying to talk the drug synthesizer company into selling her one.  The problem was Yondu’s reputation.  They weren’t happy dealing with Ravagers and certainly weren’t happy dealing with the clan who trafficked in children.  Amelia had tried to convince them that the rumours were false.  That the only source for that rumour wasn’t a stack of missing children’s reports, it was the other Ravagers the company distrusted.

 

The other problem was she wasn’t a doctor.  She was working hard to get certified by Xandar in emergency medicine, but the program took all the hours she could spare.  Even getting that had taken some fast talking because they didn’t usually offer the distance classes to slaves.  Her handling of outbreak and Dr Snow’s recommendation from Krylor had helped immensely.  But there was still endless paperwork to do.

 

Even if it was on electronic paper.

 

She was so tired.  Her back her and her feet hurt and her hands were almost raw from spending the day peeling Snu and Jillam.

 

She tried to stretch out her shoulders.  It didn’t even seem to help.  Yondu would hopefully be here soon.  She could just put her head down for a moment.

 

——

 

“Brahl!  No!”

 

Amelia felt herself being lifted, she flailed wildly and fell, crashing on to the floor.

 

“Ow.”

 

Tullk rushed over to her, “Are you alright?  Did you hit your head?”

 

“What the hell was that?”

 

“You fell asleep at your desk.  You had more than warned me not to move you, but apparently no one told Brahl.”

 

Amelia wanted to turn to look to see what Brahl was doing, but, “Can some one get the med scanner?  I want someone to check if I have a head or neck injury.”

 

Quinlan handed it to her.  With out moving her trunk, she turned it on and handed it back.  “Press the orange button and scan me, please.”

 

Quinlan did so.

 

“What does it say?”

 

She held it out for Amelia to read.  “Ok.  Someone - not Brahl- can help me up.”  Once she was sitting, Amelia looked around and saw all the boys cowering in the corner. “I’m ok, but no touching me while I’m asleep.  REALLY no moving me while I’m asleep.  Understand?”

 

There was much nodding.

 

Amelia checked on Knix and Vexca.  “You aren’t ready for me to try to open your skin yet.  Which is good, because I am too tired to run the blade just now.”

 

“OK, Doc.” Talk said, “Time to tuck in then.”

 

“I can wait for Yondu.”

 

“No, you can’t.” said Quinlan, “He and Kraglin had an emergency meeting on a moon a couple of hours away.  They won't be back for a long while.  You need to sleep now so that you can help Knix and … the others when they need you in a few hours.”

 

“Right.  Right. I can do that.”  Amelia crawled into the bed. “Been a long time since I slept alone.”

 

“Well, tonight is not your lucky night.  You can invite me to sleep next to you, if you want.  But if I don’t, Brahl will.”

 

Amelia stared, then yawned involuntarily.  “You plan this, Bad Wolf?”

 

“No, Ma’am.  I wouldn't put past The Boss, though.”

 

“Quinlan?  Where are you sleeping?”

 

“Um… in the other room.”

 

“OK.  Good night.”

 

“Night, Doc.”  Quinlan left.  Knix crept slowly after her.

 

“Huh.  Hey, Bad Wolf, you just keep your hands to yourself.”

 

“Sure thing, Doc.”

 

 ---- 

 

Karen was lying on a patent bed, with her ankles tied to the stirrups and her arms clamped to the anaesthetic supports.  

 

The room was pitch black except for the over head exam light shining right in her eyes. 

 

It hurt. 

 

It burned her eyes.  

 

The room felt like it was spinning.  

 

People were holding her down against the bed.

 

Something ran up the inside of her thigh.  She managed to lift her head and look down her naked body to where Brahl was licking a path up her leg.

 

Then he got right between her legs and ran his nose over her folds.

 

Then he turned his head a little and bit.  He used his fangs to rip a chunk of flesh out of her thigh.

 

Amelia screamed.

 

She jerked herself upright.  She was in the med bay.  All the lights were on.  There was no sign of anyone but Tullk leaning against the wall across the room from her.  She was fully dressed.

 

“He’ll be back tomorrow. Do you want to sleep in his room tonight anyway?”

 

Amelia shook her head, no.  Then she curled into a ball and started to cry.

 

Tullk sighed.  “I don’t know how to not make it worse.”

 

“Where is everyone?”

 

“I just sent them out of the room.  Waking from a nightmare is bad enough without finding a pack of predators standing over you.  I think Knix is sleeping in Quinlan’s room.”  He hesitated before adding, “I could go too, if you like.”

 

“I hate that I don't want to be alone.”

 

Tullk took a moment to think about what she had just said. “I can understand that.”   He opened the door to let the boys back in and dimmed the lights, hoping the Doc wouldn’t notice the odd bruise here and there until morning.  Then he crawled in to the bed.  “You slide back so you are right up against the wall.  I’ll stay on the edge and keep you safe.”

 

He remembered Yondu explaining the spoon theory of sleeping more than one person in a bed. 

 

He wasn’t expecting to be the little spoon. 

 

He was totally the little spoon with her nose smooshed between his shoulder blades. 

 

He could get used to that.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments please! We are down to the last chapter now. Anything you want to see?
> 
> (Trying to wrap up loose ends before the next big work in this series. Where I will once again try to stop at about 50,000 words and likely overshoot and fail.)


	10. Peeled and Raw

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, the chapter count had some more creep. I'm setting up for "Nova Records"
> 
> I am also going to have make some continuity changes shortly. So if you see the nameless discussion from the last chapter in the next chapter, just go with it.

Quinlan brought breakfast.  She and Knix got the boys out of the room fairly quietly.  That meant Tullk got to stay in bed with Amelia cuddled up behind him.

 

It was nice.  He would rather have held her in his arms than have her using him as a human shield.  On the other hand, the idea of him standing (laying) between her and the big, bad world had a certain amount of appeal.

 

She whimpered and clung a little tighter to his back.

 

“Doc?  You OK?”

 

She didn’t say anything, so he wiggled away a little and rolled on to his back, then slid back and nudged her with his shoulder.  That worked.  She crawled up on his chest and assumed the position she had used for sleeping on Yondu during the outbreak.  Tullk felt a little guilty.  But she settled right in and her body went limp.  It was about the most relaxed he had seen her since they first started talking about the moult.

 

He had told Yondu that he liked her smell.  That wasn’t a strong enough description.  The hormonal cocktail she gave off was intoxicating.  Quinlan and the pregnancy hormones was nice and all, but the smell of The Doc during LH surge.  Wow.  That was something special.

 

And it was completely wasted on Yondu.

 

Which would be fine… if he worshipped her the way she deserved.  But the Boss regularly made her upset.  He had promised himself that if the Boss ever hit Amelia or yelled at her or called her names, Tullk was fully prepared to steal her.

 

He also had to face the fact that he regularly made her upset too.  That would never have happened in the first place if the Boss hadn’t made it into something that it wasn’t.  It seemed completely unfair that Yondu had Kraglin warming his bed, but was hoarding Amelia like a child who didn't want to share the toy they didn’t even like… simply because of MINE.

 

In the mean time, Tullk needed to get more information about her life before Yondu bought her. If he wanted to be a total bastard about it, he could just wait until she was punch drunk with exhaustion and ask her the emotionally manipulative questions.  He has hundreds of years to get good at it.

 

He didn’t want to do that.

 

He wanted her to actually be willing to talk to him.

 

“Wasswrong?”

 

“Why do you think something is wrong?”

 

“Your heart is faster.”  Amelia yawned.  “Aw, crap!  Sorry!  I shouldn’t-“ she started to push herself up.

 

“Please don’t go.”

 

She froze.

 

“I’m sorry.  I don’t actually get to ask that, do I?”

 

“Why would you want me drooling on your chest?”

 

“It isn’t like that.  I feel like I accomplished something.  I helped you sleep.  The boys will get better care if you are rested.”  Tullk hesitated.  “People always get this wrong.  I don't want you to misunderstand…. “ Tullk took a deep breath.  “I like taking care of you.  I like taking care of the boys.  I’m - I was a soldier.  My job was protecting people.  You are my people.”

 

Somewhere in there was the right thing to say, because Amelia started to relax again.  “You get lonely, Bad Wolf?”

 

“More than you can possibly imagine.” She hugged him a little tighter.  “Doc?  You need more sleep. You are safe.  The boys are fine.  Take the rest, if you can.”  Tullk felt her relax.  He rubbed her back until she went back to sleep.

 

——

 

That day, moult was in full swing for Vexca and wrapping up for Jillam.  Whatever was going on with Knix, he was fighting hard to stay rational.   

 

Brahl started to go slow after lunch.

 

Quinlan was really keen to learn all the tricks Amelia was using on the boys.  To the point where Amelia flat out asked if they were going to sneak off and have Quinlan handle Knix’s moult.  Everyone ducked the question.  Amelia took that to mean yes.  She had Quinlan promise to let Amelia handle the cutting along Knix’s spine and the sedation before she started soaking the skin on his face.

 

Marlyx was not following the regular pattern either.  He was closer to Knix, having moments of slow and itchy mixed in with moments of completely lucid and fine.  Amelia wondered if there was some genetic variant involved with that, but her sample size was too small.

 

By the time Amelia was getting everyone settled for the night, Snu was back to wearing clothes.

 

“Can I sleep in my own room tonight?" he asked.

 

“Sure?  I mean, if you are ok with that.”  Amelia replied.

 

“Yeah.  I’ll come back and help with the others in the morning.  But… I think I would like some time to myself and a beer.”

 

Amelia nodded.  “Snu?  Keep it to one or two, ok?  No all night benders.  I’m going to need the help tomorrow.”

 

Once the remaining four Achernonians were tucked in to the blanket nest on the floor for the night, Amelia looked at Tullk.

 

“I had a night mare last night, about one of the boys crawling on me and…  well it was scary.”

 

He nodded cautiously.

 

“I was really hoping Yondu would be back tonight.”

 

Nod.

 

“Since he isn’t…  Would you… Is it weird to…. “ Amelia just trailed off, unsure of how to continue.

 

“Will you let me guard your sleep?” Tullk asked.

 

Amelia nodded, looking relieved.

 

Tullk watched her for a moment.  “Can you tell me anything about your husband?”

 

Amelia tensed.  “What do you want to know?”

 

“Whatever you can tell me.  It might help me find him.”

 

“I was working with an organization to provide healthcare to a newly set up refugee camp.  He was there working as a Doctor.  He was cute and flirty and six months later he asked me to marry him.  A year later we were married and a year after that, I got pregnant.  It was an accident.  We weren’t planning on having kids yet.  When he found out, he demanded I get an abortion at once.  I wasn't happy with that, so I went for an ultra sound. I though... I don’t know.  If I could show him a picture of his baby, maybe…

 

“At any rate.  He wasn’t there when I got back from my appointment.  We were working shift work, so I didn't really think anything off it.  Then, in the middle of the night, soldiers knocked down my door and dragged me away.”  Amelia went really quiet at that.

 

“We don’t have to talk about what happened next.  Not unless you think talking about it would help you feel better.  I’m interested in the two and a half years you were together.  What did he like?  What didn’t he like? Did he have any unusual habits?”

 

“The next time I saw David - he was going by the name David Azul - the leader of the soldiers gave him something to take off world.  They dumped me on the ground next to him, and he told them to just shoot me because he didn’t want me anymore.  The head guy told him to push me out an airlock if he was done with me.”  Amelia swallowed and closed he eyes for a moment.  “But he gave David a…  memory chip with something on it.”

 

“Do you know what?”

 

“No.”

 

“OK.  Let’s back up.  His name is Azul.  That doesn’t sound like a common name on Terra.”

 

“It means blue in _Portuguese_.  He spoke _Portuguese._ It's a language back home.  He spoke a lot of languages.  It was part of why I was interested.  We were in the middle of no where and he could tell jokes in every language I spoke and a bunch that I didn’t.  When Yondu started talking about Translator implants, I thought that was it.  But they don’t come in Terran languages.”

 

Tullk hesitated.  “They don’t commonly come in Terran languages.  The Kree are … expansionist.  They have colonized or raided many planets.  So do the Shi’ar-“ he stopped. “Why have you just put hand in the air?”

 

“I have a question. What are the Shi’ar?”

 

“Like Tam.  Kind of bird like.  Why does putting your hand up mean you have a question?”

 

“On Terra, it is a polite way to indicate that you need additional information with out interrupting the speaker.”

 

“Huh.  Peter never does that.”

 

Amelia just shrugged.

 

“At any rate, the Kree will fight anyone and call it a holy war.  They are officially negotiating peace with Xandar, but… that will only stop official raids.  The clerics will just keep on killing anyone they dislike.  Terra… has been the subject of a lot of genetic modification experiments over the centuries.  Asgard will make the Kree toe the line every once in a while when it gets too bad.  You said he was working in health care?”  Doc nodded. “In a place where no one would care if a few people went missing?”

 

All the blood drained from Amelia’s face.  She sat down suddenly.  “He was there experimenting on people.”

 

“Maybe.”

 

“The ultrasound tech said the baby had a birth defect.  Maybe he was experimenting on me.”

 

“The baby was half Kree.  He wouldn’t be experimenting on you if you were having sex with him.  It would be - “ Tullk stopped.  This had to be said carefully.  “From the point of view of a religious Kree, him having sex with you would be…. unacceptable.  They don’t consider you a person.  It would be like having sex with the family pet.  But he certainly wouldn’t have sex with someone he thought might suddenly have a mutation.  Some of the things they turn Terrans into a really dangerous.”

 

“He helped the soldiers-“

 

“I don’t know.  He may have made them a weapon or something.  If he was working with a Terran government and had a full Terran translator, he would be fairly high ranking in some Kree faction.”

 

“Can we stop talking about this?”

 

“Of course.  I’m sorry.”

 

——

 

Amelia was expecting the nightmares to be really bad that night.  But as soon as she started to get scared, she could hear Tullk telling her she was safe.  Feel him rubbing her back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feed the muse. Or just say something. This chapter has been re-written three times in the last three days. I just don't even know what to think of it any more.


	11. Wrapping Up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Likely a few edits to follow. This is the director's cut. I'm planning on doing some editing on this work tomorrow, then spending the rest of the day outlining how to break into Nova records. 
> 
> This means there likely won't be anything new tomorrow. If you need a fix, please go comment on one of the previous works because comments make the writing go.

For the second time in two days, Amelia woke up cuddled up on Tullk’s chest. He was rubbing her back and quietly saying her name. “Come on Doc. I need you to wake up now.”

“Hmm?”

“Come on. Time to slice open a couple of Boys.”

Amelia rolled over and sat up. She had gotten Brahl started last night. If it was a couple of boys, that meant Knix and Marlyx. She took a couple of minutes to wash her face and brush her teeth before getting started. Fuck, she needed a shower, but there was no privacy in the med bay shower. And she wasn't totally happy about going to the gang showers alone. Mind you, would it really be any different just using the one here? Yes. She had never run into Tullk in the gang showers. She still wasn't happy being naked in front of a man who had flat out declared an interest in her.

She grumbled and rubbed the back of her neck with a wet hand.

“You hanging in there, Doc?” Tullk asked.

“I need a shower.”

“Alright. I'll keep the boys in the room.”

Amelia turned and stared at him.

“What?” He asked. “Um… unless…. Did you want them in the wash with you?”

“No.”

“Ok. We'll wait.”

And just like that. Tullk got everyone tucked into the patient room and locked the privacy field.

Amelia rushed through her shower and legged it down the staircase to her room for clean clothes.

——

Knix had a hole clawed in his back, but not by him. Amelia frowned at Quinlan, who looked embarrassed. Amelia didn't say anything as she cut down Knix’s spine and started peeling away from the scratches. At least Quinlan’s nails did gouge as deep as Snu's claws had. Knix tried to slink off.

“Stop!” Amelia commanded. “I need to bandage that first.” She gooped it up with antibiotic ointment and added some synthetic skin. “Ok. He's all yours.”

Quinlan started to lead Knix away. Brahl started to follow. Knix growled. Tullk yanked Quinlan between them so her belly was at nose height for Brahl. He relaxed.

“It would be helpful is you shared with Brahl.” Tullk said. “You can't eat that much anyway. I don't want you setting up the pack to fail if you are leaving at Xandar when we get there.”

Quinlan nodded.

“Tullk, can Quinlan help peel Brahl while he's at it?”

He hesitated and thought for a few minutes. “If he were staying, that would be great. Less helpful if he is going. It would be politically better if Amelia still helped Knix moult but handed Knix’s skin to Quinlan.”

Getting everyone caught up after a night of skin progression took a couple of hours.

Krss turned up with breakfast. “Tullk said you were busy. I'll bring lunch too.” he said.

Amelia gave him a quick hug. Krss looked embarrassed but pleased as he left.

Jillam was done before lunch. That was good because the other four were right in the worst of it.

Careful experimentation showed that Brahl was ok with Quinlan working on Knix while Amelia was working on Brahl. He was less ok with Amelia working any one who wasn't Brahl.

To Tullk’s absolute terror, the Doc and Brahl had a “discussion” about order of care. Brahl was firm that they be treated based on pack rank. Amelia was doing something she called triage. When Brahl was itchy, he kept trying to run off Vexca or Marlyx if Amelia was working on the lower ranked male.

It went something like this

Brahl - shoulder checks Marlyx out of the way to get to Amelia, for the fourth time.

Marlyx -submissively gets out of the way

Amelia gives Brahl a shove and a grunt of frustration, “I'm working! Leave it!”

Brahl stays between Amelia and Marlyx

Amelia jumping to her feet and snarling- “Piss off! I am too fucking tired for this bullshit! Let me work!”

Tullk - nearly swallowing his tongue “Uh-“

Brahl (6’3, 225 lbs of apex predator) - looking up at all five feet five inches of angry medic weighing in at maybe 130 lbs - tilts his head to expose his neck before slinking out of the way with his head down.

Amelia - seemly oblivious to her brush with death, goes back to work on Marlyx

Tullk suddenly remembers that breathing is a thing and lets out the breath he had been holding

——

Snu turned out to be amazingly helpful. No one objected to his helping and he could follow Amelia's directions really well. Plus he never messed up on feeding order. Which is just as well, because with four of them in full moult, Amelia had her hands full.

And the licking had gotten so much worse. The room was way past smelling like a porn set.

Amelia was about ready to just run away, but everyone still needed attention.

Finally, she was caught up, for a while. “I need out.” She announced.

Seven pairs of worried eyes turned to look at her.

“Everyone tuck in for the night. I’m going to sleep in MY room tonight. Snu can come get me -that is knock on my door - if anything urgent comes up.”

Tullk cleared his throat. “Need- that is…. Um!…. Can I take you for dinner first?”

Amelia yawned.  “Sure.”

——

Tullk taking her for dinner was not what Amelia was expecting. It was a trip down to the hydroponic gardens then back to his place where he cooked.

“This is so much better than the cafeteria food!”

He grinned. “I like cooking. But I can’t cook for the whole crew. The boys are strict carnivores and on a mostly raw diet and it isn't really worth it for just me.”

He watched her for a moment.

“Ok.” she said, “This isn’t just about the food, so what’s up.”

“If I can find your husband. Are you sure you want him dead? You can’t take that back afterwards.”

Amelia hesitated. “Yes. Especially if he has been doing experiments on refugees. I don’t know if it’s wrong, but I could have forgiven him using me for sex. The abortion and gang rape was because of him, but he wasn’t actually there to cause or to stop it. The thing that haunts me is him asking the leader to shoot me because he didn’t want me around any more. Then him being fully prepared to kill me before selling me to the slavers.” Amelia put down her fork. “He could have left me. He could have gotten me medical attention. Hell, he could have not said anything and killed me quickly while I was sleeping. But instead he when for maximum psychological trauma because he couldn’t be bothered not to.”

Tullk nodded. “Do you think I used too much salt on the veg?”

“No, but it could use some acid, lemon or something to make the flavour a little more bright.”

Tullk nodded thoughtfully and had another bite. “Would you sleep here tonight?”

Amelia considered this for a moment. “Is this meat the guy from the hiring fair?”

“No.” Tullk said cautiously. “I thought you might be upset about eating a person. This is lab grown from Krylor. Speaking of which, I am still laughing that you had Quill watching for packs of roaming Rajaks.”

Amelia smiled. “If I invite you to my room, would you leave if I told you to?”

“Of course!”

“My bed is bigger. There is space for you sleep without touching me if I need that.”

Tullk nodded carefully.

“I’m not offering to have sex with you.” she added.

“Alright. If it helps any, I wouldn’t have treated you any differently if you hadn’t overheard that discussion with Yondu.”

Amelia looked at him. “I don’t understand what you were thinking.”

“No. You don’t but you are kind to me anyway. Even when you are completely misunderstanding the situation and needlessly upset, you are still polite. That is quite the talent.”

Amelia narrowed her eyes.

Tullk sighed. “Like now, for instance. What I was trying to say was thank you for being a good person.”

Amelia relax a little. “Why would you need to thank me for that?”

Tullk snorted out a little cynical laugh. “Because almost no one on this ship is.”

——

They didn’t actually go to bed after dinner. Amelia checked in on the boys. The patient room had been moved to the other end of the med bay and the previous area had been cleaned and disinfected. Plus the air filtration had been cranked up getting rid of most of the smell.

Amelia looked around in wonder. Tam was just finishing up on the floor. He nodded to Amelia. “I only see one big cut on Snu and you’ve already taken care of that. No one else is bleeding.” He looked at her for a long moment. “How in hell did you manage that?”

“The Doc is very good at her job.” Tullk replied.

“No shit!” Tam snarked. Then he gathered up his stuff to leave.

“Thank you!” Amelia gushed. “I was not looking forward to that.”

“Yeah well, it was disgusting but not hard. I can’t keep ‘em safe any other way, but Tullk said you needed some one to do this so you could have a break and… You take care of us, it’s the least I could do. Marlyx knocked down and killed the guy who had pulled a blaster on me during the mutiny. You keep them safe. They are good allies to have in a fight.”

When Amelia actually went into the room with the boys, it was going much better than she had expected. Quinlan was fussing over Knix, Jillam and Snu were taking care of Brahl and Marlyx. Vexca was laying in the corner.

“He needs his face and hands done soon.” Quinlan said. “But he isn't ready yet. You go rest. I’ll come get you when it starts to actually flake.”

“Thank you!” Amelia gave Quinlan a quick hug and headed towards the stairs.

Tullk took a moment to check Tam’s cleaning job before following her. As he came down the stairs, caught her with her back to him stripping out of her bra then pulling on a t-shirt. He slowed to watch.

She turned to look at him. “You still ok with this Bad Wolf.”

He nodded.

“You have to take your boots off, but I'll leave the rest to your discretion.”

When he got to the bottom of the stairs he sat on one of the chairs and took of his boots while his mind raced. In the end he stripped down to just his skivvies and climbed in under the covers on the other side. Kraglin had clearly picked out the biggest bed for the three of them. When she had said she had room to get away, she wasn't joking. It was wider than his wing span. Hel, the bed was bigger than Czar’s wingspan! He could easily join the sleep over and they still wouldn't be that crowded. Not that Tullk would invite him. The Badoon would be WAY too effective as a chaperone.

“You still Ok, Doc?”

“Yeah. For the first time since the moult started, I feel like we will all get safely though this.“

“Oh, Doc! You are doing so good! We are absolutely getting through this!”

She nodded cautiously. “Umm…” she stopped. “Could you put your shirt back on? I don't want to get grabby in my sleep and scratch you.”

Tullk very carefully did not laugh at the idea of her accidentally scratching him in her sleep.  He got up and put on his shirt.

Once again he was the little spoon, but he understood the hirt part, since she had balled her fists into the fabric covering his back as if she were trying to keep him from moving. Four hours later Quinlan called the Doc to sedate Vexca. This was the second to last bit of moult before both Snu and Jillam had recovered, still helping with Vexca’s face took a couple of hours and by the time she had finished, Knix was ready to go. It was truly the middle of the night by the time she finished and Tullk was glad she had gotten the nap.

She end up nodding off while laying next to Brahl and picking at his shoulders. The alpha wiggled around and hugged her to his chest while glaring at Tullk. His whole body screaming don't you dare try to move her.

So Tullk didn't.

The next day was mostly clean up. They were finished shortly after lunch.

Amelia wanted to finish up the documentation for her medic course, but she was past the “so tired I just typed ‘the’ six times” stage and well into the “nod and jerk” stage. Finally, Tullk said, “You are going to bed now. Will you walk or do I have to carry you?”

She scowled at him but got up and went to her room and tucked herself in.

“Good girl.”

——

“Did you get it, Boss?”

“Yeah. We got it. Would’ve been easier with Dave along.”

“So next time, don’t run him off.”

“I dint.”

“No. You just threatened to leave a member of her family behind, so she felt obligated to rescue him. Then you got all murder looking when said rescue involved the gir— woman you absolutely DO NOT love kissing someone else.”

“Shut it, Kragles.”

“If you two make me laugh, she will hear it and she will wake up.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know what I want

**Author's Note:**

> Feed the Achernonians... and the muse


End file.
